Here at Pure Xbox, it's very rare that we dish out "Outstanding" 10/10 scores for any game, but it happens on rare occasions - including a few times in 2023! For our reviewers, these were the cream of the crop over the past 12 months.
So, what were they?! Below, you'll find snippets from each review:
Resident Evil 4 Remake (March 24th, 2023)
"Resident Evil 4 Remake is a resounding success, taking the 2005 survival horror classic and revamping, reworking and retooling it into a most modern and thrilling action extravaganza."
Sea of Stars (August 28th, 2023)
"Sea of Stars is an exhilarating and absorbing indie gem that serves up delightfully clever turn-based RPG action in a world that's packed full of great characters, fun puzzles and genuine emotional heft."
Quake 2 (August 11th, 2023)
"Quake II's remastered release arrives on Xbox consoles in a fantastic package that's been put together masterfully by Nightdive Studios."
In addition to these, Baldur's Gate 3 has received a provisional 10/10 rating - we're just holding off displaying it until the troublesome issue with deleted saves has been fixed by Xbox. That technically makes it four 10/10s though!
Obviously we saw many other incredible games on Xbox this year that didn't quite achieve a 10/10 here at Pure Xbox, but nevertheless we gave out a lot of "Excellent" 9/10s for the likes of Hi-Fi RUSH, Hogwarts Legacy, Diablo 4, Starfield, Alan Wake 2, Mortal Kombat 1, Street Fighter 6, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty and more!
Looking at the highest-rated Xbox games overall according to Metacritic in 2023, Resident Evil 4 and Sea of Stars both managed to crack the top ten, probably with a little help from us! Alan Wake 2 actually ended up proving the overall victor (at least until BG3 gets a proper Xbox rating), finishing with an incredible average score of 94.
What games would you award an "Outstanding" 10/10 score to in 2023? Let us know down below.
Comments 25
@FraserG, your point regarding giving Baldur's Gate 3 a 'provisional 10' is an odd one. It is widely agreed that the problem with the saves disappearing has nothing to do with BG3. It is a problem with Xbox. My understanding is that this affects a few really big games, including Starfield. So the implication that BG3 could be docked a point because of an issue caused by Xbox, seems somewhat erroneous, in my view...
Elden Ring. I know it’s from last year, but I usually play games in the following year so I handed out the 10/10 in 2023.
@Fiendish-Beaver Provisional scores are strange anyway. In that case you’d have to wait handing out scores with every game until it fulfills its promise (disregarding if the game or the platform is to blame), otherwise games aren’t treated equally.
If I only checked the review scores I’d never have bought Cyberpunk, to name an extreme example. Or Redfall offering 60fps now.
@Fiendish-Beaver fully agree. It’s a strange thing and imo not warranted at all.
ALAN WAKE 2, Bramble The Mountain King, Dead Space Remake and Resident Evil 4. Nothing else really strikes me as a 10/10.
Starfield - 7.5 (Could improve upon updates)
Diablo 4 - 8
COD MW3 - 4
Darktide - 9 (Series X)
Warhammer 40k Boltgun - 8
Hogwarts Legacy - 9
CYBERPUNK 2077: Phantom Liberty - 9.5
Lies of P - 8.5
Dead Island 2 - 8
Atomic Heart - 8
Redfall - 5
HiFi Rush - 9
RE4 definitely gets a 10. Alan Wake 2 was far from being a 10, maybe a 7. That being said, I want everyone to remember that this is my opinion, which ultimately doesn't mean much. And I believe MW3 was easily an 8, FAR better than I was forced to think it was. I mean, how coincidental that every other COD game has always been at least an 8 or 9 and then we are told that MW3 is a 4 or 5 the same year that Microsoft acquires Activision? I played the campaign and I didn't think it was any worse, or shorter, than any other COD campaign.
Phantom Liberty, RE4:R and Cocoon are all 10 for me.
Jusant, FM, Hi-Fi, Sea of Stars, Starfield would be 9's.
Happy New Year to all!
Removed - trolling/baiting; user is banned
Does anyone else wish they could see what a banned user had said? 😂
Personally, I think 2023 has probably been the best year of gaming that we have ever had. So let's hope, when it comes to gaming, that it is as good as 2023 (it's difficult to believe it could be better!).
Happy New Year everyone. Enjoy 2024. 😊
@Fiendish-Beaver Yeah, I knew it'd be a controversial decision. There isn't a plan to dock any points (because as mentioned, it's an Xbox problem rather than a Larian Studios one), but the 10/10 just isn't being displayed until the issue has been fixed.
Basically, I don't want people to glance at the review, see a 10/10 score, and rush out to buy a game that is suffering from a major bug at the moment. It's a decision that was made to try and protect the reader in the interim while Microsoft works on a solution.
Thank you, @FraserG. That explains your reasoning perfectly. Happy New Year, matey... 😊
@Fiendish-Beaver Happy New Year to you too!
Damn, didn't enjoy any of those. Oh well. I think I never enjoyed a game that was given a 10.
Persona 5 Royal 10/10 for every year. BG3 8/10 at best and lower with the performance issues in game (Not even counting the save issue from the Xbox side).
@Darude84 I still have to go back to start Elden Ring. Well, technically I did start at launch and halted at the end of the tutorial section (reach the outside and speak to person at a tree). My save is so early I may change my character's class.
In the meantime, I have completed tons of games, including Lies of P.
Alan Wake 2 and Final Fantasy 16 were 10s for me, potentially Mario Wonder and TotK too. I burnt out on Tears and sort of rushed through it toward the end to get to FF16, so I think that sort of affects my feelings on that one, though I do believe it’s such an objectively well-made game. Two 10s, potentially four, is really quite something though. I can’t think of many other years as stacked as this year.
@theduckofdeath Might be a good thing you waited. Once the DLC comes out the story is still fresh in your mind.
@FraserG BG3 launched with a similar critical saving issue on PS5 (error 544) it also launched with hundreds of other bugs on ps5 and PC. I don't agree with your special treatment of 1 game at all. Its a bad look for this site protecting a game that launched in a less than ideal state on every platform. Customers deserve better
@Sakai It might have been similar on PS5 but apparently this specific issue is on Microsoft's end, which is why the decision was made not to dock any points.
The idea isn't to protect a game or give it special treatment - we'd have happily given BG3 a 10/10 based on our review experience as we never ran into the deleted saves bug. Our reviewer (PJ) delivered me his score of 10/10 without any prior knowledge of this issue.
It was then my decision to hide the 10/10 score for now, as a means of communicating to our readers that they might run into the problem that Microsoft is still trying to fix.
@FraserG thanks for your reply, and I do see where you are comming from a little bit. But from my point of view i think that your special treatment of 1 game is part of the problem and not a part of any solution. Infact it is actively getting in the way of a solution. Games release in such a terrible state these days, and it's us the consumer who suffers every single time.
The save issue was widely reported on PS5 at launch (error code 544 if you are interested) and they launch on another platform with a similar critical save bug. How can we expect to get better products if critics turn a blind eye everytime they like a game?
The game should be reviewed in its current state, no if or buts, or you are giving every other publisher a get out of jail free card.
If its OK for BG3 to release in a mess, and score a perfect score no less, why would any other developer or publisher care about releasing a functioning product
@Sakai I do understand what you mean, but this is a case where our reviewer wanted to give the game a 10/10 because that's the score they landed on based on their experience with the Xbox version.
The decision to hide that score was only because of the Microsoft-specific firmware issue that apparently has nothing to do with Larian Studios - and therefore it feels very harsh docking points for a bug that the developer appears to have zero control over.
If it was a different scenario and Larian Studios was 100% at fault, we'd have to think about the decision very differently. But Larian has stated that the problem is on Microsoft's end and the team at Xbox are the ones who are working on the problem.
Anyway, I do appreciate your feedback and your viewpoint on this, and we may just have to agree to disagree on this occasion!
@FraserG happy to buddy, just sharing a different opinion. Happy new year to you and the pure xbox team and thanks for all your hard work over 2023
@Sakai Thank you! Happy New Year to you as well
The only one that feels like a 10 is Quake II, due to its extensive content.
I loved RE4R but something about it felt too long, some of the content could have been cut and it would have been bit better. Maybe I just wish the Ava content was built into the main campaign.
Sea of Stars? I've tried to get into it's and maybe it's just not for me, yet Chrono Trigger is one of the best games of forever. Seems like a puzzling one as it seems too weak for some and too good for other people.
Just finished RE4 Remake... and I turned around and finished RE3 Remake..
Now I wait patiently for RE5 Remake!
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